New specs

Emma has been telling me for awhile now that her eyes hurt when she reads & it gives her headaches. Now, this kid loves books, but with her reading being a little bit behind, I was thinking she just didn't want to, because she wasn't doing it as well as her friends. She's in Speech (which she has been since she was 2) and is now going to the Resource Room every day to get extra help with reading. Th consensus between her teacher last year & her ST was that her speech was affecting her reading. She spells words the way she says them, which is Phonics, but she says them incorrectly, which is Phonics gone horribly wrong.

So we took her to the Pedi about a month ago, and they did the old fashioned eye chart test. She said that she thought she was slightly near-sighted, but it was only 20/40, which isn't that bad. But she recommended we take her to the ophthalmologist to make sure. We went on Tuesday. I'd been telling her that she might not end up needing glasses, and to try not to be too disappointed, because she'd been telling everyone she saw that she was getting glasses. Her little boyfriend Adam just got his this week, and apparently a few other kids in her class are getting them, in addition to the few that already do. In second grade, getting glasses is the "en vogue" thing apparently.

At first, I thought she was doing pretty well reading the eye chart. But then the 2 little ones decided that being cramped in a small dimly lit room where they're strapped to the "instrument of torture" (i.e. the double stroller) was too much for them, and they started throwing hissy fits. So, we went out to the waiting area, much to the relief of the doctor. I vainly tried to entertain them while we waited. When Emma came out, she yelled, "I have to get glasses". I'd never heard that phrase said with such joy. The doctor said that yes, she seemed to be slightly nearsighted (only about a -1) but she wanted to dilate her eyes just to take away her focusing ability and re-check. They said that we would have to wait about 20 minutes before the dilation drops were in full effect. In the mean time, Sarah & Katie were in complete mutiny, running opposite ways around the lobby, and completely driving me mad. So, I strapped them back into the stroller, told Emma to wait there & play until the doctor came for her, and I went outside with the babies. It was cold, like really cold, so I was hoping the exposure to the elements would calm my kids into some sort of complicity and we could go back into the office & wait patiently. Nuh-uh. They weren't having any of that. I stayed outside for maybe 10 minutes, went back inside, to find Emma still sitting there. They were good for about 2 minutes and then we were back outside again. By this time, it was raining, I was cold, and I was ready to accept the glares & chagrins of the office staff & patrons from my screaming children. We go back in & Emma's not there. Oh good, we're almost out of here. By that time, we'd been there for over an hour & a half.

By the time Emma came out, I had been forced to make Figure 8's around the lobby with the stroller, and calmly talking to the kids to keep them from screaming & grabbing the $200 pairs of frames that were everywhere. The eye doc said that she was still near-sighted, but she also had issues with focusing close up. HUH? So, my almost 8 year old is getting bi-focals. Of course, why not? It's not like we could have had something easy. Oy vey. I asked about those famous "no line" bi-focals, but she shot those down, saying it was too hard for little kids to be able to find where they need to look through without the obvious line in the lens. So, Emma tried on some frames, picked out a very cute pair of satin pink, cat eye shaped ones, and we did all the paperwork. Thankfully insurance covered a big portion of the whole affair, but our out of pocket bill is still $140. I told Emma that if she wasn't careful with these things, she would have to wear them covered in black electrical tape if they broke. O.o I only half jest. LOL But I did stress that she needed to take care of them and be careful. No wrestling with them on & try not to pick any fights.

So, only 2 hours after we walked in, we walked out, completely exhausted. Needless to say, we ordered out for dinner that night. But, Emma got her glasses. She's very excited. And she was completely bummed that she had to wait a week for them to come in. I can only hope that she'll be this excited when it comes time for her to get braces, because you KNOW she'll have to get those. Of course she will. She's our kid.